If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Good news guys
Sadie the Golden Retriever arrived the other day, long story short i wasn't able to do the whole walk them together thing, i'm sure it would have been a good thing to do, but in the circumstances i wasn't able to. Koda was in his yard when Sadie arrived, as soon as he saw her he went insane, barking and screaming in his yard, he was also pacing along his track he's made in his yard. Once the owner left I went in with Koda and did some training with him while Sadie explored the back yard. He seemed to do generally okay except when Sadie came close he lashed out aggressively, thankfully Sadie wasn't too phased by that.

I fed Koda and left his yard to set up Sadie's things. Over the past two days Koda has slowly become more and more relaxed with Sadie around. Last night Mum and i agree'd that he seems much more anxious when either her or I are in the backyard with Sadie... Jealousy we're assuming. This morning Mum came and woke me up saying "Koda and Sadie are playing through the fence!!" and sure enough Koda and Sadie were running up and down the fence playing with eachother

We decided to test Koda with Sadie today, I put his thundershirt on about 30 minutes earlier then i let him have a run with Dodge in the paddock to burn off his energy and then the muzzle went on and with Sadie and him on lead, i brought Koda into the backyard. Things went really well... REALLY WELL
Sadie is not an overly confident pup, so we decided to let her off leash to make her own decisions about whether she wanted to approach Koda or move very far away. After around 10 minutes, Koda was SO calm that he was laying on his back while Sadie sat not far away trying to get up the courage to play with this big fluffy doggy
I'll let the photos show how well things went
I only let her play with Dodge once because i've found that Dodges method of playing (which involves herding and a lot of staring cause she is so focussed) is to intense for Sadie and she feels threatened. So i doubt she'll be playing with Dodge again.

They didn't play much at that point, but I just returned from a decent walk through the paddocks with my mum, she had Sadie and i had Koda (and of course Dodge came too, but she was off lead and she went ahead to go and hunt rabbits, funny girl ). They played quite a bit as we were walking, it was great fun and both dogs were totally calm and happy Sadie likes to try and bite Koda's tail, he doesn't mind though. I'd love to let them off lead together but its probably too risky and on top of that Koda is very rough when playing and Sadie is a bit of a sook so i don't want him to get too full on with her. Its so wonderful to see Koda happily playing with another dog. I really think Koda just needs the chance to get over his initial excitement when he see's a dog and after that he seems okay. I've been quite sure for a while now that the reason he is aggressive to dogs is a mix of being so overly excited that he just doesn't know what to do with himself as well as a bit of protectiveness of his people.

Well, Sadie is back again. She's 8 months old now, so she's a lot bigger. I've been planning to take both her and Koda on a walk as soon as she arrives, but when mum and i started walking with a dog each, Sadie was just WAY too overexcited about being in a new place. Koda was surprisingly calm, but Sadie kept hyping him up, so we took the dogs back. Locked Koda in his yard and i went in there to train him, Sadie was in the backyard and Dodge was outside the yards on the farm. Koda is okay with her when i use food to get him to focus on me, but if she gets too close he freaks out. I've left them now, Sadie is good for him, she doesn't push him, and she doesn't react back when he reacts. She is curious about him and is encouraging him to play through the fence. I bet by tomorrow they'll be the best of buddies like they were last time. Time will tell i guess...

I haven't been walking Koda heaps in public, just been busy and haven't had the time to regularly make special trips into town to walk him.
Regarding people/cars at home, he's improving slowly. In general, he comes when i call him when there are strange men around, there are exceptions to this though. But in general he's pretty good when i'm around to guide him, I think he is slowly starting to learn more and more that people are nice and there is no need to be nervous of them. When i'm not there to guide him, he seems to forget all his training and just reverts back to reactivity. There are a few people that Koda absolutely HATES, he's never bitten them but i wouldn't put it past him. He rushes at them, has almost nipped them once or twice. One bloke, he took his boots off and came inside and Koda actually attacked his boots when i walked past them with him on lead.

This morning two blokes walked past Kodas yard and he didn't react at all. About 30 minutes later, a car drove past the backyard while i was out there and Koda completely lost the plot, he ignored everything i said, and would not come to me, I basically had to corner him to even get close to him. 10 minutes later, i went inside and when the car and a strange man was nearby, Koda was totally calm, he was siting on a chair completely chilled out. Seems unusual....

If i'm completely honest, I think Koda is confused about what we want from him, which makes me feel confused about what I should be doing... looking forward to a behavioural consult i'm hoping to organise when i have the spare cash. The last behaviourist was a waste of money, she didn't know what she was doing. Not to mention the price was a complete rip off!

I have a small amount of video footage of my training with Koda, also some footage of Koda reacting to various things, however i can't post them now because my internet is capped and extremely slow. Few more days and i can post it.

Ugh, i was gonna post photos, but my internet is not coping at this very moment, so i'll post them later today.

Koda is doing 'okay'... I wouldn't necessarily say that he is making leaps and bounds in his progress, its very slow. I haven't been able to see the behaviourist yet, i'm just waiting until i have the cash. I've only recently left school and am starting my own grooming business, so at the moment I don't actually have a reliable cash flow. Its always a bit of a bumpy road when you start a new business. But i'm getting there, thankfully i have amazing parents and they are willing to loan me money so i can advertise my business and get it going.
Shouldn't be too long until i can see the behaviourist! I'm really looking forward to it! In the mean time i'm just continuing with what i've been doing in the past.

I will definitely give an update once I see the behaviourist with Koda